Rev Gav

What is our ‘new work’ in Christ?

John 20:21-23

‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

In this Bible Reading from John’s gospel, there are four sentences, and I’d like to unpack them one by one.

1. Peace be with you.

I love that Jesus greets his disciples with ‘Shalom’. The word ‘peace’ really doesn’t do it justice, as shalom is a more encompassing word which means to wish someone wellness and wholeness in their being, the right ordering of all things in their lives, and a hope that, for them, the world will be the way it is supposed to be.

The disciples were in hiding, in a locked room, fearing retribution from the Jews. Where were they when the crowds were shouting for the release of Barabbas? Where were they as Jesus walked the Via Dolorosa with a cross upon his back? Where were they as Jesus hung on a cross? They had deserted Jesus, afraid that they too would be convicted as his accomplices. So when the resurrected Jesus appeared to them, I wonder if they were shame-faced, embarrassed, and tortured at leaving him in his hour of need? Yet, Jesus opened with ‘Shalom’. Jesus was essentially saying, “It’s okay. Everything will be alright.” No wonder they rejoiced. Jesus wasn’t holding their failures against them but telling them their relationship had never been broken.

2. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

The second thing Jesus does is tell them that in the same way his Father sent him to a broken and hurting world with a message of love and forgiveness, his disciples were to do the same. Of course, they couldn’t live and die to set humanity free, but they could be deputised — be God’s agents, ambassadors, and representatives  — to preach the forgiveness of sins.

The story of God’s work in the world didn’t stop with the resurrection, far from it. The incarnate Jesus couldn’t reach everyone but his disciples would, starting right here in Jerusalem, then throughout Judea, then the nation of Israel and to the entire world.

3. When he had said this, he breathed (on them) and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’.

Remember that  John’s gospel is full of symbolism and meaning. What day of the week did all this take place on? The first day of the week. John spelled this out very clearly, and this was because a new work of creation was starting. It began with the resurrection and it continued with the disciples.

Where in the Bible do we first encounter the Holy Spirit? In the creation accounts in the Book of Genesis where the Spirit of God hovered over the waters of chaos. Where in the Bible do we first encounter life being breathed into someone? In the creation accounts in the Book of Genesis where God breathed life into the first humans.

Interestingly, the words ‘on them’ are absent from the earliest manuscripts of John’s gospel and I think this is on purpose.

God’s plan all along was so humans could be ‘forgiven of their sins’ and made clean and holy so God, by the Holy Spirit, could come and make home in them, and here we have Jesus announcing that transition from himself being filled with the Spirit, to his disciples and all followers all being filled with the Spirit.

4. ‘If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

Before Jesus, no-one could say that someone else’s sins were forgiven, and when Jesus was forgiving sins the Pharisees quite rightly spoke up saying, “Only God can forgive sins!” By forgiving sins, Jesus was equating himself with God, and it was this claim to divinity that got him killed. So, you need to understand that this statement from Jesus was without precedent. Jesus was literally deputising his disciples to have the power and authority to pronounce God’s forgiveness.

We have to remember that forgiveness is a handshake. It is something that happens between two parties and is not something ‘done’ by one party to another. For example, if I forgive someone then, from my side they are forgiven — and as we know, forgiveness is vital for our own health and wellbeing — but for the other person forgiveness also has to be mediated to them. If that forgiveness is not mediated — if they don’t know they are forgiven — in what sense are they forgiven?

In the same way, how can someone know God’s forgiveness if we withhold that forgiveness? Jesus is saying that, as God’s mediators, we have the authority and power to mediate God’s forgiveness to others.

When a Sheriff makes a Deputy, he or she puts a badge on them, a sign that they are acting with the Sheriff’s authority, that they represent the Sheriff. In the same way, we are deputised by Jesus to tell people that God has forgiven their sins and that we can declare absolution on behalf of God.

Our Mission

Our mission, as a Church (with a capital C), is to be sent into the world to proclaim and demonstrate the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. We do this by modelling Jesus, or being ‘clones’ of Jesus, whereby with our words we declare that Jesus Christ is Saviour, and with our actions we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us to be the love of Jesus to others.

The good news is that we are gathered into groups called churches (with a small c), to be a team with a variety of gifts, equipped and built up to do the good works God has called us to do. This leads me to finish with a final question. Thinking about the church to which you belong, what is its mission or purpose? What does it do collectively to declare Jesus Christ as Saviour and to bless the community that it serves?

Amen.